College & Research Libraries (C&RL) is the official, bi-monthly, online-only scholarly research journal ofthe Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

About The Authors

Tao Zhang is Digital User Experience Specialist at Purdue University; e-mail: zhangtao2000@gmail.com.
Xi Niu is Assistant Professor of Software and Information Systems at University of North Carolina at
Charlotte; e-mail: xniu2@uncc.edu. Marlen Promann is at Purdue University; e-mail: mpromann@purdue.edu.

Assessing the User Experience of E-Books in Academic Libraries

Tao Zhang, Xi Niu, Marlen Promann

Abstract

We report findings from an assessment of e-book user experience (search and information seeking) from usage data and user tests. The usage data showed that most reading sessions were brief and focused on certain pages, suggesting that users mainly use e-books to find specific information. The user tests found that participants tended to use default keyword search and browse the search results. Experience levels with e-books and features of e-book platforms influenced users’ information seeking in e-books. The assessment results have significant implications for designing e-book features to support users’ reading strategies and help libraries create a consistent user experience.